Monday, January 30, 2012

Color printing took off several years ago, but there are some uses that remained more restricted than others, and one of those is the use of full color printed envelopes.

Companies such as ColorCopiesUSA.com added new technology that can get you as few full color envelopes as needed, as opposed to what was required a few years ago.

Custom envelopes for a party invitation, or to promote an event, or even to make the recipient aware of the value of what the envelope holds, full color envelopes are the best tool to use.

Color Copies USA will create the artwork for you if necessary, or will take advantage of what you created yourself.

An interesting point about these envelopes is that each of those can be personalized 100%. You might wonder how does that work: Well, let's assume that you are creating envelopes to hold an invitation. Each envelope could have the name imprinted in full color in large fonts, or we could imprint an image based on the gender of the recipient, or based on the day of the week when the event to which this individual is being invited takes place.

Monday, March 07, 2011

Where did it happen? Orlando, FL 2011.What took place?Dscoop6 Conferences. which is the group of users of printing equipment from HP

Where the conferences cool?: Super! I got to meet HP's top management of HP, including Alon Bar-Shany, great speakers such as Brian Tracy, and Stan Slap.

What else happened?: I attended multiple conferences, learned a lot about books, publishing and internet.

Who, of the people I met, made a big impact in me? The answer is not easy because so many talented people took the floor, but Eileen Gittins, founder and CEO of Blurb was one of the strongest personalities I met. She started a company, Blurb.com, that allows people like yourself to publish books that actually look like books, with the square spine, with dust covers, or full color covers. A book could be a story, a poem, or family pictures, a team's history and much more.

What is so special about Eileen? She is definitely a talented speaker, with a vision and the strength to move the world. You can feel her enthusiasm and get engaged with her very easily.

How does book publishing connect to ColorCopiesUSA.com? The same printing technology used by companies such as Blurb is available to you when you order printed copies and printed books from Color Copies USA. The book finishing is emerging as a need, as expressed by many customers, and Color Copies USA will start offering books soon.

It was a pleasure to have met Eileen. Thanks so much!!
Keep bringing more choices in the world of book publishing!

I'd like to share a couple of pictures of the event.

The conference hall was amazing, with a gigantic
video screen. You can see Eileen on top

Eileen Gittins, Blurb, with Gustavo Baner,
with ColorCopiesUSA.com talking about book publishing

Monday, November 16, 2009

Color Copies USA has announced their special discounted offers for Fall 2009.
The company has presented saving options on products of the different lines:
color copies, color printing, banner printing, trade show stands for trade shows.All of the services are provided at the speed of color copies.

Color Copies USA's customers will therefore, be able to build their projects faster than ever before envisioned.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

For those in the printing industry, the Print09 trade show is in Chicago from September 11-16, 2009. With over 600 exhibitors and over 90 education programs, Print09 will showcase the latest innovations in offset printing and printing technology.

Industry trends will be discussed at a breakfast summit, which is sponsored by the Research and Engineering Council of the NAPL on September 14th. According to a press release from Research and Engineering Council of NAPL:

An engaging new format allows for panelists to be questioned by both the moderators and audience members. According to Robert G. Whitton, Managing Director of the Research & Engineering Council of NAPL, “The format of the Print 09 Summit will allow for more interaction between the panelists and audience members. The speakers are prepared to address one of the hardest-hitting issues facing all business owners today: investing in technology. With their first-hand knowledge, they’ll provide answers to the “how, why, and when” of making that crucial business decision.”

To learn more about Print09, visit the official website here. If you are planning on attending Print09 and need affordable trade show graphics, retractable banners, or color copies of your marketing materials, let Color Copies USA take care of all your printing needs.

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

A restaurant newsletter is an ideal way to boost your business and develop a relationship with customers. It can be done in electronic form and sent to email lists and posted on your restaurant website, in print form to be mailed and given to customers at the restaurant, or a combination of both.

By Jose L Riesco

A combination of sales, promotion, marketing and public relations are required to achieve long-term success with any small business. As far as a restaurant is concerned, in order to fill your tables frequently you will need to make sure that your current customers return, and that you can attract new ones. Customers are the cornerstone of your business. Make sure that your atmosphere, value for money, quality of food and highly trained, attentive staff are ready.

A restaurant newsletter is an ideal way to boost your business and develop a relationship with customers. You can decide to do a color printed version that you can mail, distribute to the neighborhood businesses or just leave by the door at the restaurant, or having an electronic newsletter that you can email. I would suggest a combination of both since in this way you cover all your customer’s preferences.

Your restaurant newsletter should have the same image than your restaurant. If your restaurant is formal and upscale, so it should be your newsletter. If you are a casual, family restaurant, then your bulletin should have a fun and friendly look and be written in an upbeat, casual tone.

In any type of color copies or online materials about your restaurant, relevant information should be provided somewhere, whether in a box off to the side, as part of the title box, or as an informational line at the bottom. Pertinent information includes name of restaurant, street address, phone and fax numbers, hours of operation, website address and email address.

The content of your restaurant newsletter should be less self-promoting and more customer-focused. The restaurant newsletter should not be self-promoting, it should be customer focused. The customer wants to know about your monthly specials, your charitable commitments, any new seasonal menus, a story behind this month’s recipe, your new celebrity chef, industry trends, or new features of your restaurant.

It is important that you maintain a consistent delivery date (even if it’s only quarterly). If you overdo the communication, customers will view it as advertising rather than information. A monthly publication is probably best if you have a lot going on, but if you change menus seasonally and don’t hold many special events or fundraisers, then consider a quarterly one.

A good restaurant newsletter is one that customers can quickly read. You don’t need to write long articles. Short articles with short sentences will do better. Catchy headlines and dividers to separate articles also help. Be sure to break up text with white space. Include only one or two small images, whether of food, staff, or other appropriate photo, so as not to jam a persons email box.

With any restaurant newsletter, be sure to provide links. If you are printing your newsletter, don’t forget to include clear links so that your customers can follow when they have access to a computer. Very Important: Don’t forget to include instructions on how to subscribe to your list and to recommend to forward your newsletters to their friends and family. You should think about offering incentives to new subscribers and setup a formalized referral system for your existing subscribers. Encouraging feedback by asking a question or taking a poll is also a great feature to include in a newsletter.

Jose L Riesco worked in the IT industry for 18 years and owned a restaurant before working full time as a consultant and marketing expert. By creating a unique client-centric Strategy, restaurateurs will be able to dramatically increase their sales while reducing marketing expenses. To find more about his Restaurant Marketing Strategies and his new book visit his web site: http://www.myrestaurantmarketing.com

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Preparing your exhibit for a trade show and meeting your goals at a trade show are not always easy. On the good side, you are in control of the way in which you represent your company, but many other aspects of the show are absolutely far from your control.

Some aspects of a trade show that is out of your control are:

How many visitors will show-up, what's their buying power.

Who your booth neighbors are and how much public they draw or reject.

If the show has run before, you may be able to gather demographic or other forms of information on past attendees. Additionally, there are sophisticated software tools that will help you determine how many qualified visitors to expect based on previous data, geographical location of your booth.

Here are some other considerations for a trade show exhibit during the preparation stage:

You must have documentation available both for by-passers and for genuine prospects (the software mentioned above will help you potential prospects and total attendance.) You may need brochures or other documents with two levels of depth. One set for overview information and the second one for specific product information. This means that you need double sets of brochures, technical data, presentation folders, and samples. Not all visitors expect to receive the same information. Digital printing in the shape of color copies, large format printed posters, digitally printed presentation folders and traditional large volume printing will help you put together all of your documents with a minimum waste charge. You will need less prospect-documents than general-public ones. Specific documents though require much more preparation and a lot of double checking. These are the documents that prospects really interested in your product or service will pay the most attention to.

You need to make sure that you attract visitor's attention. Busy neighbors will help traffic. It'll be up to you to take advantage of traffic. Graphics, thank-you gifts and a charming team at your booth will do a good job when coordinated properly.

Record keeping during the show is critical. Show organizers often provide a card reader but unless the card information is completed with more detailed notes you'll have difficulty in distinguishing by-passers from prospects

Have a strategy to recognize by-passers from prospects during the first minute of the conversation with one of your customer support personnel. Have a "short" booth presentation and an extended version for those who want to go that way. Asking a visitor about their company, their task and what they know about use of your product in their organization will help you do that fast screening.

After the show, go back to your office and be fast to initiate further contact with your prospect. If you made the commitment to mail additional information, do so. If you promised to provide an estimate, email it and follow-up with a phone call. Send a hard copy as well.

There are many companies that can help you develop a plan for your show, as well as to design the artwork of your posters, presentation boards and pop-up booth decorations.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

I'm so excited about this new video! It puts into images some of the great things we do for our customers. Make sure to take a look and comment on it.

We print competitively priced color copies. You can create and design your color copy with Microsoft Word or any other editing software, email your files, and, in return, get the best color copies available in the market.

We have many years of knowledge and experience in digital printing among our professional staff, that we see the fine details that you most overlook.

The equipment that we use is best-in-class: well maintained, calibrated, and running the most sophisticated software.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

It used to be that manuscripts would be transformed into lead blocks (usually called fonts, which not too long ago came from founderies) and used to carry ink on paper, thus creating a printed piece.

Very few of our customers currently have real manuscripts. There are of course handwritten corrections to an older version of a document, but pieces fully created with a pen and paper?, no; you hardly see those any more.

Computers brought the level of simplicity up significantly, but let me point out other reasons why you might want to explore the use of a computer the next time you create a document that needs to get printed:

Even if you're not a fast typist, the opportunity to redo your work with just a few clicks is amazing. Clarifying concepts on the fly, rewriting from a different perspective and then deciding to go back to the previous version, or even comfronting are not only simple, but possible to a degree that had been unthought of.

Nobody else than yourself will be able to make the point exactly as it should be made. You know much more about your trade than anybody else, so by presenting your ideas in an organized way make a world of a difference

Last but not least, if you type a document yourself, you'll save some money by not paying a professional typist. Of course, companies like ours offer professional copy writing and editing, but very often, just by taking advantage of your own digital talent, you'll come up with the piece that's just right.

If you're still not convinced about the advantage of self expression and content generation, try a very simple exercise: Think of a topic and write about 200 words on a lined paper. Then go to the computer and do the same (same topic), give it a few minutes for you to re-read it and a few more to tweak it a little bit, and you'll see the magic that you can come up with.

This coming holiday season is giving us a great opportunty to work on creation. Take some time to play with ideas, concepts and flows of ideas.

Monday, December 01, 2008

The crowd is in panic. Only today we've learned that our country is formally in a recession. Not only that, but we've been in one for the last 12 months.

The good part of the news is that we are closer leaving it behind (which will eventually happen).But what should we do until our news anchors formally inform us of the end of this chaotic period?Would it be downsizing? Would it be taking a winter vacation?

The way in which I see things is that this is a time of opportunity. This is a time to reposition yourself and to look at your inner strengths, and to gain room.

It's time to advertise and to promote yourself and your business. This is the time to demonstrate your mastery and leadership. Show your commitment to your audience.

I can't promise the world, but your chances are definitely better than on regular days. Do your promotions right now. Not when the news anchors tell you so. What'll happen then is that it'll take time to find your advertising company, to get them to work on your projects and worst of all, you'll see in front of your eye the opportunities gone.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Last night Sarah presented her show at the Bank Atlantic Center with the mastery we all expected from her.

It was not only about her singing, but about the wardrobe, the dancers, the technology in place for this show.

At moments Sarah looked like she was flying in the air, at others the images that were projected on the angled mirror "garage-type" wall created astonishing effects.

Her orchestra and dancers were superb, and no one was disapointed by her performance. You know it because the applause went on and on....

Why would this concert be relevant to my usual printing tips?The reason is this: the visual effects (and I don't mean Terminator-like situations) were soft, creative and smart. The performance hit the audience through the senses at different levels at the same time. The result is the satisfaction of the audience.

When designing an advertising piece, try to imagine those types of events where all the senses have something to say. Create having different objectives in mind. Work on the visual effect, but work on the intellectual side as well. Allow readers of your advertising piece to connect through different ways. In that way they'll be embracing what you have to say.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Do you remember Amex's 2007 ad showing Beyonce traveling around the world and enjoying the lifestyle that "the card" implies?Watch the video on youtube

Those times are gone for some time at least. Those extravagant situations do no longer apply to real life nor they seem appropriate and therefore you don't even want them on your wish list at this time.

So what's for advertisers to say to one another?Well, we'll start to see charming scenarios: back to family values, tender relations and a lot of support among friends, relatives and co-workers.We all look for support in times of crisis, and this is one of those!

It's probably the time of nice gestures rather than the time of an exotic lifestyle.We'll start to see this trend everywhere. A sweet chocolate bar will start to mean a lot again and maybe we'll re-connect with some of those values that we had not taken care of lately.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

It may be the case that your company is overspending when the topic is "Color Copies"Take a minute to ready the resolution that Citigroup made in early September 08 as per what a memo seems to circulate:The memo sent out from the company includes the following item: “The use of color copying and printing dramatically increases our copying and printing costs. Color presentations are unnecessary for internal purposes; therefore going forward color copying and printing should only be used for client presentations. Also whenever possible, presentations should be printed double sided to reduce unnecessary paper usage. Over time, we will be removing color copiers and printers from the locations where they are not essential for purposes of preparing client presentations.”

Citigroup has probably about the best contracts in the industry for their copier machines. Even though that strengh, they still know that owning the printers does not do them any good.

They still carry the following expenses:

Maintenance contract with the copier vendor

Employees that must be technologically inclined, ready to understand software and the requirements of the printed jobs. Preparation of the jobs could vary significantly: different types of paper might be involved, a "combo" of color and black and white documents might be needed, post-printing processing might be needed (collating, coil binding, numbering, etc)

On top of the investment, the training of employees that might move into a different area shortly or even leave the company, plus the time it takes to run jobs.

For all of this reasons we think that outsourcing entirely your printing needs makes so much sense.A brief email with an atachment are usually enough to run a job. Companies such as Color Copies USA utilize online forms and proofing methods that improve the purchasing experience

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The world of printing in times of elections is as strange as you might imagine.Not only people are exceptionally worried about the current crisis, but the slowdown that drags from the summer is still around.

Printing companies, marketing offices, digital printing services and color copy shops know this very well and find their patterns of business altered. I see first hand at the Bulk Mail Office at the USPS how fewer mailing companies drop mail. By the way, haven't you seen less mail in your mailboxes lately? (non-political mail, I mean)You (an advertiser) just can't compete against what is main stream and this year it is Obama-McCain - ELECTIONS 2008.

Next week it'll be a whole different game.After elections day, just plug those new batteries into yourself and back to the "Make-it-happen" mode. Minds will be clear about half of us enthusiastic and the rest getting busy just to forget a bad day.... and I bet that you'll start to think again in those promotions that you want to run, that jingle that's resonating in your head and so much more.

Tell me if I'm wrong:Two weeks from now, your mailbox will be full again. (no credit card solicitations, I'm sure) Printing will be all around us again and creativity will be at its highest level.

Monday, September 10, 2007

You see,It's less usual for smaller companies to require a large number of brochures.Unless they are doing a big show, it is often more advantageous to print few pieces and adjust them more frequently.

Companies go through different business cycles, therefore making it more convenient sometimes to promote one type of products or services as opposed to others.

Even within a still-offered-service (or product), changes in the technologies applied, promotions, and many other "environmental" situations affect the ideal menu of products or services that a company should make available to the market.

Companies such as colorcopiesusa.com are well suited to help you decide when it's a good idea to craft your advertising material in one direction or another.

Their expertise comes from the printing and marketing, bringing so many tools to the table, that will make customer think what had been "the unthinkable".

Let me suggest you to call them and talk with them about the way in which they might be able to help you.

I found this digital printing company that prints digital Color Copies out of Florida and ships all over the country.ColorCopiesUSA.com has the latest technology available and not only they control the digital printing technology, but they do print in offset as well.Offset printing is very convenient for runs above 1,500 copies of an original.

Because Color Copies USA masters in both technologies, they will always find the best alternative to run a job. And their philosophy is that the best alternative is the one that's most beneficial for the customer. The low cost of printing in a digital format is always compared to the extent of the campaign that their customers will launch.

ColorCopiesUSA.com, a color copy company out of Florida, is never biased. Since they can resolve printing jobs both in the world of traditional offset printing and

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

It was a great day at On Demand Expo up here in Boston. The weather is kind of cold and rainy, but it didn't prevent attendants to the show to make the most out of it.Conferences are running at full throttle. Technology companies are becoming more and more creative about how to optimize workflows.Check this link.http://www.revistalaprimera.com/ondemandexpo2007See you there hopefully!

Sunday, June 25, 2006

What Is Spot or PMS Color? f a designer needs to match a particular color (a logo color perhaps) in a printed piece or has a limited budget, then spot color is something to consider. Spot colors can also be used alongside process (CMYK) colors for greater flexibility.

To ensure that a printer uses exactly the color that a designer intends, color systems were developed. The most common of the spot color standards is the Pantone Matching System or, PMS as it is more commonly known. All of the modern image-editing, vector-drawing and page-layout programs come with a full library of thousands of Pantone colors as part of the program.

In addition, designers will want to have a set of swatch books that show printed examples of the colors and their codes. Swatches are a more reliable method of matching or choosing colors than doing so on-screen. This is because monitors are illuminated by light behind them which makes colors seem brighter on-screen than they are when printed on paper. Also, colors on a monitor are created with red, green and blue light rather than mixed ink pigments.

Though some may view spot color printing as being much more limited than CMYK printing, there are many interesting possibilities.

Two or more spot colors can be mixed to create interesting colors and effects.

Spot colors can be combined to create duotones, tritones and quadtones that can be very effective and can add some visual interest to otherwise grayscale images. Unfortunately, it's difficult to proof spot color jobs. Most proofing systems use CMYK-based technology. Some laminated proofs, which work by attaching colored sheets of clear acetate, have some spot colors available but these are often expensive.

What's the Difference Between Engraving and Thermography?ngraving and thermography are actually quite different from one another but these two printing methods are frequently confused. The printing results can be somewhat similar and can commonly be found on wedding invitations, business cards and the occasional letterhead.

Engraving is a kind of gravure printing wherein paper is pushed against a recessed plate. In engraving, the paper is usually slightly moist. The pressure of another cylinder forces the ink from the recessed area onto the paper. The pressure of the press raises the imprinted area slightly which gives the piece what we recognized as an engraved appearance.

Thermography, also known as the "poor man's engraving" method, is somewhat similar to engraving in result but not process. It's cheaper and easier to produce than traditional engraving which may account in part for it's popularity. Thermography is created by adding a powder to the ink being printed on a paper's surface. The printed piece is then passed under heat and literally cooked together. When heated (it's thermography after all), the ink and powder blend and rise to give a raised effect. Frequently thermography appears even more engraved than some engraved printing.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

I wish I could be there in Germany, taking pictures and being able to create great large format pieces, or just images on my computer.

This is the situation: I love all of this wild colors that many teams use in their clothes. I can close my eyes and imagine an nice scene where those beautiful colors will almost show as one of those gorgeous pieces produced by pop artists.

Just a few minutes ago, strolling in South Beach, FL, I saw some of the most impresive pieces I'd ever seen.

If you're a soccer fan, support your favorite team.But make sure to watch the USA team. They promise A LOT!